Englishman Stephen Lee won his first ever major
title by beating surprise package Marco Fu from Hong Kong 9-2 in the final. He played very well in
the final and finished in style with a 106. Lee, ranked No 9 in the
world rankings, picks up the first prize
of £60,000 and Fu (ranked 377th!) gets £32,000.

After this maiden victory Lee will move to No 4 in the provisional ranking list. Fu will be at
51st.

Kelly Fisher won the Ladies title with a 4-0 win over Lisa Quick in the final.

Big wins for a number of "foreigners" in the first round. The controversial Australian Quinten
Hann thrashes World No 1,
John Higgins 5-1. They also met
in last year's tournament. That time Hann was leading 4-1
before Higgins won the last 4 frames to score a 5-4 win. Sweet revenge for the man from "down
under!" Hann now meets Alan Burnett from Scotland, another promising young player.

The defending champion, Dominic Dale of Wales, is thrown out 5-0 by Finnish hope, Robin Hull. Hull
had an extremely successful run in the qualifying school but this
must surely be one of his greatest scalps ever! Gary Wilkinson will be his opponent in the second
round.

Marco Fu from Hong Kong is another very talented player based outside Britain. He beats
unfortunate Andy Hicks 5-4 to advance to the next round. Hicks has lost all his four ranking
matches 5-4 this season. Fu next plays Drew Henry of Scotland.

First to the test this morning was Nigel Bond, facing Belfast's
Patrick Wallace, making his venue debut. Wallace achieved a
phenomenal record at Plymouth, qualifying for the Grand Prix, UK and
Welsh Open... A 35 minute opener gave both players plenty of time
to settle down and it was the experienced Bond who edged the frame
on the pink. Wallace bounced back to take the next two. Bond, once
he levelled at the interval never looked back and ran out a 5-2
winner. Wallace admitted afterwards "that he had a bit of a
nightmare" he said "I was very nervous at the beginning and found it
hard to settle". But I shall be going home to practice twice as hard
for the UK.

ds neighbour Jimmy Michie. Runs of
88, 67 and 52 giving him a 5-2 win.
Scotland's Chris Small, who endured a torrid time at Plymouth
returned to the fray and knocked in only the second "ton" of the
event with 115, as he defeated Stuart Pettman 5-3.

First of the day's seeds to crash was Canada's Alain Robidoux. After
enduring a nightmare season last year, Robidoux fared no better on
his return, crashing 1-5 to Liverpool's Rod Lawler. Robidoux managed
a run of 73 in the only frame he won.

Wheels In Motion Team man Brian Morgan scored solidly to defeat
Morden's young hopeful David Gray 5-3. Benfleet's Morgan tapped in
breaks of 50, 50, 61, while Gray responded with a run of 62.
As the afternoon got underway, Thailand's James Wattana plummeted to
a 1-5 defeat at the hands of Scotland's Euan Henderson. At 4-0 down,
Wattana saved a little face with a run of 88, but it only postponed
the inevitable.

No such problems for Dave Harold and Ken Doherty, who both ran out
5-0 winners Harold ran in breaks of 103 and 104 to swell the ton
tally; Doherty however didn't stretch himself to even compile a 50
break!

Another Cuemasters v Wheels in Motion battle saw Jason Ferguson take
the honours for the WIM team as he scored steadily to oust Martin
Clark 5-3. Ferguson notched up runs of 79, 65, 76, and celebrated
with 106 in the final frame. Clark had the consolation of a run of
129, currently the highest break.

The drama of the day came on John Parrott's table. No indication
early on as Parrott strolled to a 2-0 lead against unknown Irishman
Colm Gilcreest. Gilcreest pulled one frame back before Parrott
compiled a 121. Still he had not broken Colm's resistance as the
Irishman toughed it out to win the next three frames to take an
unlikely 4-3 lead. Parrott, the seasoned campiagner has seen all
this drama before and he levelled again and calmly knocked in 66 to
take the decider.

An early evening win for Stephen Hendry as he strolls through 5-1
against McCulloch.

Finland's Star Robin Hull reached the last 32 stages for the first
time, toppling Grand Prix Champion Dominic Dale 5-0... Gary
Wilkinson made short work of the challenge of Matthew Couch, winning
5-0 to line up against Hull.

Hong Kong's bright young hope 20 year old Marco fu, ousted
Tavistock's Andy hicks, but not without a tremendous struggle. Fu
raced into a 3-0 lead, but the experienced Hicks fought back and
gained a 4-3 advange, but Fu was not to be denied.. Two runs of 54
in the eight frame set up a tense decider. Fu took an early lead,
and when Hicks mis hit a safety shot, Fu calmly took his chance to
compile 77 to take the match.

Fu's reward is a Last 32 match against Scotland's Drew Henry, who
performed his own heroics to put paid to the hope of Malta's Tony
Drago 5-2.

1986 World Champion Joe Johnson became the oldest player to make the
last 32 as he beat Northern Ireland's Terry Murphy. Murphy missed
the three tournaments at Plymouth because of a broken ankle, so this
defeat will prove another major setback. Along with Hicks he has yet
to win a match, with four tournaments gone.
Johnson goes through to play Scotland's Alan McManus.

Mark Williams came safely through 5-3 in his match against Dublin's
Michael Judge, despite runs of 64, 81 and 94 from Judge. His
countryman Darren Morgan, still recovering from the injuries
sustained in a car crash, battled through to overcome Robert Milkins
5-4 and will now face Williams. There will be little love lost
between the two on the table, with a lot of local rivalry at stake,
so this should prove a "juicy" encounter.

The unpredictable Australian Quientan Hann made a major dent in the
season of World Champion John Higgins as he breezed through 5-1,
doing a great favour to the hopes of Stephen Hendry's as he battles
to regain his Number One spot.

Steve Davis and Dene O'Kane ground to a total halt at one stage.
Their match was pulled off with the scores locked at 4-4, to make
way for the evening matches. At the resumption O'Kane won the one
frame shoot out to progress. Davis will be left rueing the fact that
he squandered leads of 3-0 and 4-1 .

Leading the overseas players will be James Wattana of Thailand, who is
perfectly capable of winning a ranking tournament, but hasn't proved the
point too often!
Aussie Quientan Hann can beat anyone, but would need to beat everyone to win
and consistency hasn't been his middle name so far. His opening match could
be easier - John Higgins - not to easy an opener for Higgins.

Everybody will be watching with great interest as 20 year old Marco Fu of
Hong Kong makes his debut, having reached a venue at his first attempt since
turning pro this summer. If you fancy a bet his odds are 801 to win the
title, but first he has to overcome former World Semi finalist Andy Hicks,
of Tavistock.

In addition the overseas challenge is swelled by Robin Hull of Finland, who
takes on defending champion Dominic Dale. Sam Chong of Malaysia returns to
play Ronnie O'Sullivan... Belgium's Alex Borg encounters the obdurate Dave
Harold... Seasoned New Zealander Dene O'Kane lines up in an intriguing (or
should I say interesting!) battle against Steve Davis.
Ireland (North and South) are well represented... Plymouth's high flyer,
Northern Ireland's Patrick Wallace makes his venue debut against Nigel Bond,
while his Eire counterpart Michael Judge will provide stiff opposition for
Mark Williams.

... and possibly the most mouthwatering match in the first round; world No. 1 John Higgins
against Quinten Hann of Australia. They met in last year's Grand Prix too. Hann was leading
4-1 before Higgins won the last 4 frames to score a 5-4 win. Quinten along with Marco Fu are
probably the two biggest "international" hopes in snooker.

The seeds from 32-64 join in the fray today, coming cold into
matches against the players who have acclimatised for the past three
weeks at Plymouth - so this first tournaments always throws up some
upset - good value at the bookies if you can spot the upsets!

Upest No 3: Patrick Wallace does it again. This time defeating
Newbridge's Lee Walker 5-0 to book himself a place at the venue for
the first time in his career. Wallace will meet
Nigel Bond at
Preston.

So 6 out of 10 seeds perish this morning. One match wasn't played.
The WPBSA double booked Jason Prince to appear at a "launch" in
London and his match against Stuart Pettman will be played on
Tuesday.

Afternoon Matches:

The seeds fared a lot better after lunch, with only two managing to
reach their seeded position.

Upest No 7: The great new hope of snooker Marco Fu, proves it has
been no fluke so far as he hammer's Nuneaton's Mick Price 5-0 - the
wheels falling off for The Wheels in Motion Player.

Upest No 8: The greatest win of his career - and now the greatest
match to come - as Malaysia's Sam Chong show his class again,
defeating Paul Wykes 5-2 - and now he gets star prize - a match
against Ronnie O'Sullivan at Preston. I
wonder if Malaysia flies
direct to Manchester airport - book the tickets boys!

Highest break today so far a 132 to win the match from Henderson.
Gary Ponting opened up his match with 120 as he opened up a 2-0 and
3-1 lead over Johnson, but 75 from Joe turned the game in his favour
as he took 3 on the spin to win.

Marco Fu stamped his authority with consecutives runs of 50, 81 and
77.

First up was a great result for Alex Borg, his first trip to a
venue - delighted Belgians will be booking the trip to watch Alex
play Stoke's Dave Harold. Borg put paid to
Neal Foulds in a close
game, where they both had their chances.
David McDonnell's breaks of 74 and 73 helped him to victory over
Karl Broughton - McDonnel plays 1997 World Champion
Ken Doherty.

Thorne and Johnston-Allen toughed it out to a final frame decider.
The highest break of the encounter - a 52 from Thorne.
Johnston-Allen took the decided 71-8.

Dennis Taylor looks destined to continue to slide down the rankings.
Now the game's elder statesman Taylor was defeated by the promising
Alan Burnett, who has overcome the bitter disappointment of failing
to qualify for last season's main tour, when everyone expected him
too. A break of 122 from Burnett was the highlight. Burnett will
line up against fellow scot Graeme Dott.

6 of the seeds made it: Shokat Ali hit 69 and 51 in defeating Karl
Payne 5-3
Michael Judge made Irish eyes smile as he ran in consecutive breaks
of 52, 77 and 95 to rip the heart out of his match as he went on to
beat Barry Pinches 5-0.

Canada's Tom Finstad found his return to British soil too hard to
handle as Eddie Barker eased through 5-2. From 4-0 down Finstad
managed to make the score respectable helped by a run of 87. Barker
will now play Gerard Greene.
Frame Scores: 1-73, 31-81 (77), 31-76, 26-65, 96-5 (87), 62-23,
16-71 (61).

Australia's young hopeful Shawn Budd was also on the receiving end
of a 5-1 reverse as David McDonnell knocked in three 50+ breaks to
go through to meet Karl Broughton. Frame Scores: 16-78 (54), 72-46,
55-66 (53), 18-63, 45-53, 29-74 (55).

Unranked Sam Chong has made it through to Round 4, which means he will
almost certainly be one of the six lowest ranked players who now play
the six leading oversears qualifiers for a place in round 5. It's a
bit of a complicated system! There will be six matches in round four -
the lowest six qualifiers against the six overseas players, and
everyone goes on through to round five. Round Four is to be played
Saturday August 16th - so we should be able to sort out who's who by
then!

Michael Holt knocked in a break of 113 in his win over snooker's "rap"
boy Lee Richardson - for music fans Lee Richardson composes and sings
"rap" music and has released a cd.

Mark Bennett beat Tony Knowles, both have been considerably higher in
the rankings. Bennett reached one semi final last season and Knowles
is vieing to return to the higher echelons of the game again. An all
Welsh battle was Mark Fenton against Wayne Jones. Despite Jones being
the higher ranked - the hot local money was on Fenton - and he won.

Fenton suffered the misfortune of having his cue lost in the post a
couple of months ago, when he sent it off to John Parris for repair.
Fortunately John Parris was able to make a cue that suited Fenton and
he even got compensation for the loss - so he ended up very lucky -
when you consider the nightmares that some players suffer when they
have to change cues -
Alain Robidoux for instance.

Right now it gets a bit complicated! The six winners of the Overseas
qualifiers are seeded into Round Four - no I don't know why that
should jump over every player bar the Top 64! but they have.
Now the bottom six off the ranking list that have got through - now
play against those six - with me so far - good - then the winners of
those six matches will slot back into round five in the places where
the bottom six qualifiers were - No honest guys, I'm not trying to
make it sound confusing - IT IS confusing! So the answer to this is to
rush off and join our correspondent, who wrote from Mongolia and join
in a qualifer and you too could be two matches from the venue (and
loads of dosh) without picking a cue up! Neat idea huh!